August 22, 2005
In Morgan's powerful third cyberpunk noir SF novel to feature Takeshi Kovacs, whose consciousness is transferred from one ultra–combat-ready body to another in the service of various unscrupulous powers, the interstellar mercenary returns home to Harlan's World, thoroughly pissed and dangerous. Despite his justified cynicism, he finds himself trying to protect a young woman who may
house the soul of a martyred revolutionary from centuries earlier. He also must fight a hired killer who's a younger version of himself. To succeed, he has to sift through his past to see which allies and memories he can trust. Morgan has become even more nervy since winning the Philip K. Dick Award for his confident first novel, Altered Carbon
(2003). This book develops a baroque, appallingly complicated setting, full of opportunities for revelation and betrayal. Both violence and sex are troweled on thickly but appropriately; they have significant consequences for these people who are trying—in circumstances even more desperate than our own—to discover who they really are and who they might have a chance to become. Agent, Susan Howe at Orion (U.K.)
. 8-city author tour
.
August 15, 2005
Takeshi Kovacs, former special agent, now enforcer-for-hire, returns to his birth planet, the grim Harlan's World, intent on tying up some loose ends from his past lives. When he encounters a female mercenary who reminds him of a woman he thought was dead, his plans are derailed as he becomes embroiled in the planet's labyrinthine politics and meets a killer who claims to be a younger version of himself. Morgan's third novel (Altered Carbon; Broken Angels) featuring the hard-boiled hero Takeshi Kovics (and his Del Rey hardcover debut) roils with the grit and turmoil of life in a grim distant future, where consciousness resides in removable "stacks" that can be excised from a dead body and housed in a new "sleeve." The author's eye for detail and feel for the atmosphere and nuances of sf noir result in a story packed with action and angst that will also appeal to general suspense readers. Highly recommended for most sf and popular fiction collections.
Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from September 1, 2005
Following " Altered Carbon " (2003) and " roken Angels" (2004), Morgan's anxiously awaited third Takeshi Kovacs novel makes a terrific addition to an award-winning series. This time Morgan takes a giant leap into the cyberpunk future that William Gibson begin exploring 20 years ago. Unlike Gibson, however, Morgan combines the cyberpunk style with a fast-paced, first-person narrative that is as evocative of classic hard-boiled detective fiction as it is of cutting-edge science fiction. His protagonist, Kovacs, a futuristic version of a " ronin" ("for hire") samurai, is back on his home planet, Harlan's World. The ruling Harlan family awakens Kovacs from digital storage into a newly constructed body and launches him on a mission that weaves a dangerous course through labyrinthine politics and murderous hardware. But Kovacs also has his own agenda. Vengeance and a quest for a long-lost love continually put his loyalties into conflict with his powerful and ruthless new employers, in a future where death may or may not be forever. Highly recommended for followers of the series, cyberpunk devotees, and hard-boiled detective fans not averse to a little genre-bending. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)